Apparatus and method for identifying atrial arrhythmia by far-field sensing
First Claim
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1. A method of identifying atrial fibrillation in an implantable defibrillator comprising:
- capturing cardiac signals from electrodes disposed beneath the skin and outside of a patient'"'"'s ribcage;
identifying R-waves in the cardiac signals and observing whether intervals between R-waves are stable or irregular;
if the R-wave intervals are irregular, observing whether QRS morphology is similar on a beat-to-beat basis; and
if R-wave intervals are irregular and QRS morphology is similar on a beat-to-beat basis, determining that the patient is experiencing atrial fibrillation.
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Abstract
In a subcutaneous implantable cardioverter/defibrillator, cardiac arrhythmias are detected to determine necessary therapeutic action. Cardiac signal information is sensed from far field electrodes implanted in a patient. The sensed cardiac signal information is then amplified and filtered. Parameters such as rate, QRS pulse width, cardiac QRS slew rate, amplitude and stability measures of these parameters from the filtered cardiac signal information are measured, processed and integrated to determine if the cardioverter/defibrillator needs to initiate therapeutic action.
319 Citations
10 Claims
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1. A method of identifying atrial fibrillation in an implantable defibrillator comprising:
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capturing cardiac signals from electrodes disposed beneath the skin and outside of a patient'"'"'s ribcage; identifying R-waves in the cardiac signals and observing whether intervals between R-waves are stable or irregular; if the R-wave intervals are irregular, observing whether QRS morphology is similar on a beat-to-beat basis; and if R-wave intervals are irregular and QRS morphology is similar on a beat-to-beat basis, determining that the patient is experiencing atrial fibrillation. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. An implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) comprising a housing containing operational circuitry and configured coupling to a plurality of electrodes for implantation in a patient, wherein the operational circuitry is configured to perform the following method of cardiac signal analysis:
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capturing cardiac signals from the electrodes; identifying R-waves in the cardiac signals and observing whether intervals between R-waves are stable or irregular; if the R-wave intervals are irregular, observing whether QRS morphology is similar on a beat-to-beat basis; and if R-wave intervals are irregular and QRS morphology is similar on a beat-to-beat basis, determining that the patient is experiencing atrial fibrillation. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10)
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Specification